City of St. Paul seeks feedback on downtown life

What kind of art should adorn the new Lowertown ballpark, and how tough is parking downtown? The city of St. Paul is looking for feedback from residents on the Red Bull Crashed Ice competition, the design of a new Lowertown ballpark, parking and development downtown, and downtown life in general.

The CapitolRiver Council, one of the city's 17 neighborhood district councils, has one open seat on its ballpark advisory body, formerly known as the Lowertown Ballpark Design and Construction Committee.

The committee will advise city staff and the St. Paul Saints on public art and other amenities they would like to see at the 7,000-seat ballpark, which will be constructed at the site of the old Gillette/Diamond Products building off Fifth and Wall streets.

Applications are due by 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, and artists who live or work in Lowertown are especially encouraged to apply.

The city's online forum, Open St. Paul, has posted a ballpark-related discussion question: "What components would have to be included for the Lowertown ballpark to be a good neighbor in Lowertown?"

The city will host a community feedback session on the recent Red Bull Crashed Ice race from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Room 2220 of St. Paul College. The city's marketing director, Jake Spano, also is accepting comments at jake.

"This is standard procedure for us," Spano said. "We did this last year. We did four or five (meetings) before the event. We'll have somebody there representing Red Bull, and we'll have city departments there ... so they'll know what works or didn't work for next year."

Spano said there's no guarantee that the heavily attended downhill ice-racing competition, which took place from Jan. 24 to 26, will come back for a third year, "but we also know if you wait eight months to ask people what worked, it's no longer fresh in their mind." He said parking and road closures are always hot topics.

The CapitolRiver Council has put together a working group to address downtown parking issues. The next meeting is at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 26 at the U.S. Bank Center.

A separate group, the Development Review Committee, will meet to discuss downtown development projects. The committee meets the second Tuesday of the month at 7:30 a.m.

The CapitolRiver Council's Downtown Life Committee also is seeking new members. The committee will next meet at 10 a.m. March 11 in the U.S. Bank Center's first-floor conference room.